Monday, July 11, 2011

Majorca

The NYT reports that R Nissim Karelitz has declared several old Majorcan families to be Jews.Majorca was an important way-station for Jews fleeing France in 1306. At the time it was part of a semi-independent kingdom of the same name that also controlled Montpellier. So R Aharon ha-Kohen, author of Orhot Hayyim AND the Kolbo, spent some time there with Rabbi Falcon before moving on to the Spanish mainland. While there he reworked the Orhot Hayyim, and some manuscripts of the work (including the one that volume 2 was published from) contain references to the island and the local rabbi. For all you ever dreamed of knowing about medieval Majorca, see David Abulafia's A Mediterranean Emporium: the Catalan Kingdom of Majorca.